Chinese books take limelight
|Published
Jianguo Jiang , Vice Minister of State Council of Information office of China browses through a selection of Chinese books exhibited at the Exclusive Books in Hyde Park . Picture: Antoine de Ras, 03/12/2015 Jianguo Jiang , Vice Minister of State Council of Information office of China browses through a selection of Chinese books exhibited at the Exclusive Books in Hyde Park . Picture: Antoine de Ras, 03/12/2015
#Focac: Johannesburg - A day before the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation (Focac) kicked off, another form of communicating Chinese stories was launched.
Exclusive Books in Hyde Park, Joburg, played host to Chinese dignitaries and local power players at the opening of the Exhibition on Chinese Books.
Jiang Jianguo, the Vice-Minister of the State Council of Information Office of China, gave the keynote address to the group of about 40 who sat outside the entrance to the bookshop.
The audience included Exclusive Books chief executive Benjamin Trisk and the administrative director-general of the African Media Initiative, Eric Chinje, who both spoke at the event. Jiang said he was excited that the exhibition would be held at the franchise’s other stores.
Among the books on sale were some covering Chinese business, politics, economics and people’s lifestyles.
The book that made up the main display was by Chinese President Xi Jinping. Titled The Governance of China, it is available in English and Mandarin.
Jiang said: “I would like to extend my appreciation and gratitude to you for your support. This will lift the relationship between China and Africa to a new level and it will entrench the mutual friendship, which is significantly important. At this historic moment, we get to host the cultural exchange between China and Africa.
“We are here to host these special Chinese books, and one of the highlights will be Xi Jinping’s book, The Governance of China, and another 100 books so more readers can have a better understanding of the situation in China as well as Chinese culture, so that they can know China better.”
Although a power outage struck in the middle of the event, those attending weren’t perturbed.
After the speeches and ribbon-cutting, the delegates took a walk through the dimly lit store to have a look at the books being exhibited.
Trisk said the franchise was looking forward to hosting the Chinese books, and he hoped they could bring more for it to sell.
lerato.mbangeni@inl.co.za
THE STAR